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Playwright, female impersonator, and now novelist CHARLES BUSCH. His play, the camp classic, "Vampire Lesbians of Sodom," was the longest-running play in Off-Broadway history. His other plays include, "Psycho Beach Party," and "Red Scare on Sunset." He has a new show which parodies the variety shows of the 60s, "The Charles Busch Revue," in which he makes seven costume changes in an hour and 15 minutes. One reviewer writes, "Among New York's drag performers, he is certainly the most congenial. Instead of freezing into imperious divalike poses and spewing hostile sexual challenges, he is a man who revels in the opportunity to get himself up in drag, the more flamingly tacky the better, and create a party around it." BUSCH's first novel, "Whores of Lost Atlantis," will be published in November. (Hyp

Singer/songwriter SAM PHILLIPS is a former Christian singer who became disillusioned with the form, left it, changed her name (from Leslie), and started writing songs which explored her own singular spirituality. Since 1989 she's been making pop music that's been admired by the critics. One critic wrote of her 1991 album; "On the surface, Phillips seems just another wispy-voiced, ethereal singer-songwriter, writing moody songs chronicling the dangers of corruption and obsessive love. But (its) fraught with both beauty and tension." PHILLIPS newest album is "Martinis & Bikinis." (Virgin Records). PHILLIPS is married to T. Bone Burnett, who has produced several of her albums.

1: Writer LAURIE GARRETT has been a science reporter for NPR, New York "Newsday," "Omni," and other publications. GARRETT is also the author of the new book, "The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance" (Farrar, Straus, Giroux). The book explores the emergence of new infectious viruses like AIDS and Ebola, and the new strains of known diseases that are resistant to many treatments. GARRETT examines the conditions that favor the spread of these microbes and looks at possible solutions to stop the diseases.

2: Actor RIP TORN, who now plays the Arty, the producer on the HBO comedy series, "The Larry Sanders Show". TORN has been a stage actor since the mid-1950's, when he left his native Texas (and his first name "Elmore") behind, for New York City and the Actors Studio. Described by one reviewer as "the good-looking no-talent with the ludicrously sinister name", Torn was often typcast as a heavy in television shows like "Dr. Kildare" and "Bonanza." (He also portrayed Henry Miller in an X-rated film version of "Tropic of Cancer."). His latest feature film is "Where the Rivers Flow North" (Caledonia Pictures), where he plays a rural hero who has to survive by his wits, and with a hook hand.

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Maureen Corrigan reviews "A Very Long Engagement," by French novelist Sebastien Japrisot.

2: Actor and playwright DAVID DRAKE. In 1985, DRAKE saw the play "The Normal Heart" by playwright Larry Kramer. It was a turning point for DRAKE. Kramer went on to become a founder of ACT UP--the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power. DRAKE, a gay man, started on a path of self discovery and activism that has led to his writing a series of vignettes called "The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me" (Anchor Books).

1: Actress LAUREN BACALL is a legend, though she doesn't like to think of herself as such. She's been a star of stage and screen for fifty years, was married to Humphrey Bogart, and won the National Book Award for her 1978 autobiography "By Myself." Her new book, "Now" (Alfred A. Knopf Inc.), tells the story of her last fifteen years and the experiences that have shaped her life.

Book critic JOHN LEONARD reviews "Judge on Trial," by Czech writer Ivan Klima.

Rock critic KEN TUCKER reviews Joni Mitchell''s new album, "Turbulent Indigo" (Warner Brothers).